


A Field of Poppies

by TechnologicalNoiz



Series: Guillotine [2]
Category: Fallen Hero Series - Malin Rydén, Fallen Hero: Rebirth (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Other, like most of my writing, like seriously, this is just sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2020-03-07 15:32:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18876037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TechnologicalNoiz/pseuds/TechnologicalNoiz
Summary: You reach out to take their hand in yours. They pull you closer. Thunder rolls. Lightning cracks. Poppies wilt. Petals scatter across the ground, washed away in the frigid water.





	A Field of Poppies

_Joyous and beautiful, laughter rings through the air._

_“Come on old man!” They look back at you, eyes more alive than they have ever been. “What’s wrong? Can’t keep up?” They turn running through a field of crimson poppies. Beautiful and radiant as they ever were. The blue skies over head steadily going darker as storm clouds roll in._

_Rain patters softly. They stop, arms outstretched, face upturned. They always loved the rain. Said that it washed away the cruelty and stench of humanity. You now know what they meant._

_“Ricardo,” their gaze locks on you, their hand reaching out, “let’s dance.” They laugh again. You are absolutely mesmerised, as you have always been._

_You smile back, lips soft as your eyes well with tears. “Alright.” You reach out to take their hand in yours. They pull you closer. Thunder rolls. Lightning cracks. Poppies wilt. Petals scatter across the ground, washed away in the frigid water._

_“I love you Ricardo.” Their voice is distant, whispered in your ear, ice over your skin. Red lips brush across your cheeks leaving a trail of blood in their wake._

_They step back out of your grasp. The ground opens._

_You fall._

_They watch._

_Distorted laughter rings through the air._

_It’s because of you that they died a second time._

You are standing in their apartment, their marked skin bare. Lines scrawled across their body. They are a Re-Gene. That is not what bothers you. They have killed… so many innocents in the crossfire of their goals. You can’t process it all. You turn. You leave. Unknowingly condemning them. You don’t hear their cries, their anguished screams as they beg for your forgiveness. You don’t hear it, but you can imagine it. It haunts you, much like that day seven years ago.

You stumble over the rubble of their collapsed lair, hoping, pleading, to what you don’t know, that you won’t find their broken body. That you won’t see them like that a second time. You are never that lucky. Los Diablos is cursed to forever bring despair and pain to those that live in this wretched city. It’s raining. It has been for hours. Dark clouds lay like a suffocating blanket across the sky. Humid, thick air fills your lungs as you inhale.

Bodies litter the place, some barely resembling human, their blue gray skin stained purple with bruises, the only sign that they were alive once. Disembodied limbs are scattered across the rubble… You don’t know what caught your eye, dread fills you as you steadily walk towards the centre of the destruction. You know what you will find before your brain registers what you see buried under the rocks.

“Ricardo.” Wei’s voice is distant, his tone a warning, full of worry.

No. No. No. You don’t look back at him. You don’t listen.

“Ricardo. Stop.” You don’t. Your eyes fill with tears, your breathing quickens. No! You refuse to see. You already know. You drop to you knees trembling hands digging through the rubble. You don’t hear the footsteps approach, don’t feel the icy water against you skin. Numbness, the loss of feeling in your limbs. You brush away the rocks revealing their face, bruised, broken, still… lifeless.

Frantically you remove the rest of the rubble pulling them into your arms as you carefully remove the remains of their helmet. The dented armour did nothing to protect their fragile body from the falling debris. A choked sob catches in your throat.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m-” you can’t hold it back any more, tears spilling from your eyes like a floodgate. You bury your face in their hair pressing a kiss to it as if trying to wake a sleeping prince from the curse of a witch. It won’t work. They are gone again, for good.

A heavy hand falls on your shoulder. “Ricardo.” You killed them. This is all your fault. If only you listened. If only you stayed, shouted, anything but the cold silence they were met with when they were pleading, desperate.

“Ricardo.” The hand tugs at you, attempting to pull you away from them. To take them from you again.

“No!” You cling closer.

“Ricardo! Listen to me!” Wei Chen, Marshal Steel, commands. “There is nothing we can do for them now. Let’s at least move their body. From what you’ve told me, the Special directive would want them back. If we stay here that’s exactly what will happen.”

You nod taking a steadying breath. Now is not the time. You need to get them out of here. You can’t let them fall into their hands again. You don’t know what they would do with their body. You don’t want to find out. You never would. Slowly you stand, their form like lead in your arms. Rubble crunches under foot. Rain falls steadily. Clouds show no sign of letting up. You will mourn them again, but this time you have no right to. This time their death really is on you. It weighs down your shoulders, suffocates your mind, cracks splinter, shards of glass sharp and cutting like a broken window. No one was there to catch them. They died alone, cold, thinking that they were broken, not worth loving. Thinking that they were worthless… you never had a chance to tell them how much they meant to you and now you never will.


End file.
